


Helpless

by aalafave



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I don't know where this is going to go, it's based on Helpless from Hamilton, so I call it Hamilton Meets Miraculous Ladybug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 08:37:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5659789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aalafave/pseuds/aalafave
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before she met him, his smile haunted her. It followed her throughout Paris - that easy, charming grin that was plastered on billboards and burned hot in her memory. Then Marinette met Adrien Agreste and it wasn’t his smile that made her heart go boom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Boom

**Author's Note:**

> In which I was on a three hour flight, bored, listening to Helpless from Hamilton on repeat and this happened and I didn’t edit or anything and it’s not my usual style, but I’m playing around so bear with me. 
> 
> I'm also used to posting on ff.net (in the Harry Potter fandom) so this is a risk for me.

“Alya!” Marinette clutched her best friend’s arm. Widened eyes scanned the room as she held her breath.

“Breathe, girl.” Alya laughed.

“How can I? I’m not worthy to be here! It’s too much, Alya! I’m going to faint. I should just lie down right here.”

“And risk ruining that dress?”

Marinette sighed as she smoothed down her skirt. “It only took two weeks.”

“Only two weeks? Girl, you’ve been obsessing over it since we won tickets. It’s amazing.”

It was Gabriel Agreste’s annual fashion event and somehow, through a remarkable turn of fate, Marinette won two tickets to the night of her dreams. Not only was she in the presence of fashion’s most talented and prestigious designers, but she was also in the same vicinity as Adrien Agreste and his smile. She couldn’t think straight.

“It’s too formal,” Marinette said, “I knew I should have went with the shorter skirt!”

“You’re the belle of the ball,” Alya said with a grin.

Marinette groaned and adjusted her lace strap. “This will be his first impression of me.”

“Who? Adrien?” When Marinette didn’t respond, Alya pressed on. “You know, I heard his dad is enrolling him in public school this year.”

“What?”

“In fact, if my calculations are correct, he’ll be in our class.”

“Alya!”

Alya shrugged, but Marinette knew she was trying to hide another grin. “Who knows? I might be wrong.”

Marinette had readied herself for seeing Adrien tonight, but for the rest of the school year? Right in her class? Her heart hammered a tattoo against her chest.

She could see Alya shaking her head at her panicked expression. “Come on. Let’s mingle.”

Alya had to drag her to the middle of the floor where people with their fancy titles in their fancy clothing made small talk. She couldn’t talk to these people. They wouldn’t want to talk to a 14-year-old in a silly dress.

“Loosen up, girl!” Alya grabbed Marinette’s hand and twirled her despite Marinette’s protests. “It’s a party. You’re going to have some fun.”

“I am, I am,” Marinette insisted, spinning to appease her friend. Her red dress flared out around her ankles and, for a split second, she felt like she was Cinderella, confident and sure. A few of the guests noticed the pair of girls giggling, but no one interrupted their fairy tale scenario.

Marinette spun on her heel and her eyes went to the entrance of the room. The boy with the smile - Adrien Agreste - stood in the doorway, but Marinette didn’t see his smile. She didn’t see the nervous upturn of his lips or the furrowed brow or the hair falling over his forehead.

She saw green eyes that rendered her helpless. They swept over the crowd and she thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest. And when green met blue, that was that. She was drowning in them. It wasn’t his smile that made her feel like the sky was the limit. It was one glance that put her down for the count. 


	2. Oh, Look At Those Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alya takes matters into her own hands and Marinette has a meltdown.

His eyes were on her for one, two, three seconds and then he tore his gaze away. Marinette stared after him and tried to steady her racing heart, but it was an impossible task. She felt like she was going to burst and all it took was a single look.

“Marinette?”

She had forgotten Alya was standing beside her.

“Yes?”

Alya's face appeared in her line of vision. Marinette tilted her head to the side but Adrien and his eyes were gone. “Are you okay?”

“I'm wonderful,” Marinette squeaked.

Alya turned around and followed Marinette's gaze. “Oh, girl, you've got it bad.”

“I – I don't know what you're talking about.”

Alya rolled her eyes. “You've been obsessed with his smile for months now.”

“But it's not his smile,” Marinette cut in, “I mean – yes, his smile is amazing and he's amazing and he's just wonderful but Alya, did you see the way he looked at me? He looked at me with these eyes and I looked back and we looked at each other and those _eyes_.”

“Those eyes?”

She could hear the teasing lilt in Alya's voice, but Marinette didn't stop. “They're so green and they're so focused. They're like – just – so intense and green-”

Alya chuckled. “Very green, I've got it.”

“They're not just green! They're emeralds-”

“Emeralds?”

“Piercing and amazing and-”

“Okay, okay.” Alya took Marinette's arm and led her to the nearest wall. Her best friend moved in front of her, blocking the view of the crowd. “I guess he does have nice eyes.”

“The most _amazing_ eyes.”

“Amazing eyes.” Alya shook her head. “All right, Marinette, he's all yours.”

“Mine?” Marinette stuttered, “He's not _mine_. He's Adrien and he doesn't know who I am or anything and he's not _mine_. Definitely not mine. Not yet – or not ever – just no.” She turned to the wall and leaned her forehead against the cool stone. “'I'm going to die,” she whispered, hoping Alya wouldn't cut in with another encouragement. It was a fact now. She locked eyes with Adrien Agreste who had the prettiest, most amazing, wonderful, gorgeous, emerald green eyes in existence and she was going to die.

“Stay here,” Alya said and when Marinette looked up, she was already halfway across the room. Halfway to Adrien.

“Alya!” Marinette tried to get her friend's attention, but it came out as a whisper. There were too many people around her. She couldn't reach Alya without causing a scene. Marinette stood helpless as Alya introduced herself to Adrien Agreste.

She trusted Alya, so there was no reason to worry. Her hands didn't have to shake and her breath didn't have to quicken because Alya was probably just welcoming Adrien to their class and Alya putting her hand on Adrien's arm was definitely just her being friendly and-

Marinette watched, blue eyes wide, as Alya and Adrien smiled at each other. Alya was friendly, but had she always been that friendly? What if she had fallen for Adrien's charm? She had agreed that Adrien's eyes were gorgeous. Did Alya fall under his emerald trance?

They continued smiling as they spoke. Another wistful sigh escaped Marinette's lips as she leaned against the wall. Adrien's charm had captured another victim and this time, it was her best friend. But, just as the thought came to her, Adrien's head turned in her direction.

 _Oh, look at those eyes_.

And then Alya and Adrien were walking in her direction. Marinette straightened, a flush crawling up her neck, as his eyes never strayed from her's. He was smiling at her. His eyes were on her, he was looking at her, and he was smiling at her. Marinette tried to compose herself but, before she knew it, he was standing in front of her.

Then the words came tumbling out of her mouth and she shouted, “Marinette Dupain-Cheng! It's a pleasure to meet you!” The flush brightened her cheeks.

“Adrien Agreste,” he said. Marinette swore his eyes sparkled as he spoke. “Alya told me I had to meet you.”

Marinette's mouth dropped open. “She – she did?”  
  
“She said you're a designer.”

“ _Oh_. Uh – yes – um – I design things like...things.” She couldn't think straight when his eyes were on her. “Lots of things.”

Adrien's eyebrows furrowed and Marinette's heart dropped. He had to think she was an incompetent fool. “I'd love to see those things one day,” he said instead.

“O-okay. You'd – okay.”

He gave her a warm smile. “We'll be in the same class, so I'll be seeing you around.”

Marinette remembered to blink. “Same class,” she repeated, eyes glossing over as she imagined sitting behind Adrien everyday. She barely registered his hand pat her shoulder as he left. “Did he touch me?”

“Yep.”

Marinette squeaked and slid down the wall.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure I'm going to continue this story through their show's timeline which means I get to play around the superhero stuff soon.


	3. Bottle Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Marinette is learning how to become Ladybug and meets a cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry there's no Hamilton references in this chapter. I will get better.

Marinette and Alya had planned on spending their summer vacation together, but their plans were derailed by a little ladybug kwami showing up in Marinette's bedroom one hot day. In that instant, Marinette's life was turned upside down; at first, she had refused. She hid from the little kwami for weeks before the little red thing's impatience ran out and she was transformed into Ladybug for the first time.

Then she began to accept her new identity. It was a slow process; although Marinette was a fast learner, she continued to struggle with the simple things. It was well into July when Marinette had mastered her yo-yo. Two weeks later, when Marinette was practicing swinging around Paris, Chat Noir came into the picture.

“Okay, if I throw it-”

“You don't need to talk yourself through it,” Marinette could hear Tikki's voice giggle in her head, “Trust your instincts.”

Marinette sighed, eyed the ledge on the other side of the road and threw the yoyo. It twirled around a pole and, before she could talk herself out of it, Marinette jumped from the building. The string held her weight. She didn't crash down onto the busy Parisian street. A few seconds later, she clutched her yoyo in her hands, feet back on solid ground.

“I did it,” she exhaled sharply, “I just swung over here with a yoyo!” Laughter bubbled up in her throat as she did a giddy dance.

She saw his eyes first.

Marinette turned and saw blindingly green eyes blinking back at her. Her heart skipped a beat and, for a second, she thought of Adrien and his emerald eyes, but these eyes weren't emeralds. They were bottle-green and the color wasn't limited to his irises. It extended to the edges of his mask-

A _mask_.

“Who are you?” Marinette asked as the stranger's features became clearer. It was a boy, tall and thin, around her age. He was crouched down like a cat; after Marinette's eyes adjusted to the dark, she realized he wasn't just posed like a cat – he was dressed as one. A black cat in a leather suit with a bell fixed around his neck.

He straightened, mouth open and eyes large. “Are you-” His eyes glanced down as if looking for something.

“I asked a question,” Marinette said.

The boy's hand went to his messy hair which was adorned with cat ears. “I'm Chat Noir,” he said with a hitch in his voice. And, then after a pause, he took her hand and pressed his lips to her suit-covered skin. “And you are?”

Marinette jumped back and held her hand out of his reach. “Ladybug.” Her lips curve into a grimace when he smirks. “And I'm leaving.”

“Wait.” The boy – Chat Noir – leaped forward. His eyes are brighter than ever and Marinette wondered how he ever snuck up on her. “Do you have a kwami too?”

Marinette threw her yoyo as hard as she could. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Mine likes Camembert,” the boy continued, “Is that normal or does yours like something less smelly?”

She wound the string around her wrist, but she didn't jump. “Sweets,” Marinette said, “She likes sweets.”

The cat superhero grinned. “Sweets. I wish mine liked sweets.”

Despite her need to flee, Marinette stalled. She climbed back down from the ledge and took a few steps closer to the boy who called himself Chat Noir. Curiosity was getting the best of her. “What are you doing here?”

“Seeing the city,” he said with a shrug, “Making sure its safe.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Safe?”

“Well, I'm a superhero, aren't I?” Chat Noir said, “I have to patrol to make sure there's no danger in my city. Isn't that what you're doing?”

“Patrolling? No, I'm-”

“I suggest we patrol together from now on.”

Marinette paused at the cat's forwardness. “I'm sure I can handle the city by myself, but thanks.”

He must have had his kwami for longer because he moved nimbly in his suit. One second, he was standing across from her and then he was sliding up in her personal space. “I'd love to work with you, My Lady.”

Chat Noir gave her a Cheshire-cat grin and waited for a response. Marinette almost agreed just by the way he looked at her, but then she shook her head with a laugh. “Sorry, Chat, but I'm going to have to say no. This ladybug works alone.”

And with that, she threw her yoyo again and jumped. The last thing she saw was the cat's eyes, green like Adrien's. Marinette ignored the dangerous thought and rushed home.

 


End file.
